Jordan Mercer
Jordan Mercer is a mind manipulatior retained by the "misinformation" arm of Lux Aeterna. Personality Reserved and manipulative, Jordan is an enigma, and prefers to keep things that way. He takes great pains to keep others at two arms' lengths. This has to do with the secrecy of his past, and the little tidbits that he would like to keep buried in it. It is rare for anyone to get close to him. Neither does he pretend to let others get to know him. There is always a very distinct line drawn between him and the rest of the world, and the moment someone tries to step across it is the moment they end their acquaintance. He is very quiet, almost to the point of being shy, but there is something vaguely devilish about his manner that precludes that. However, he is an excellent listener, able to understand and relate to others easily. This trait is almost never seen in him. Another rare sight is one of Jordan laughing; he enjoys life and is very free-spirited and well-humored, but no one ever gets to know him well enough to see that. Secretly, he would like to be more open and easygoing, as his true nature tends to be, but old fears scarred over from his past keep him from doing so every time. Relationships of any kind are difficult for Jordan, for reasons he is well aware of. He would simply rather not take the chance of trusting another person with his innermost thoughts and desires. Instead, he keeps everyone in equal regard, making friendships and romantic endeavors impossible. Jordan can be charming when the necessity arises. He can be just about anything; he is able to express himself in any way he wishes, or to hide behind a perfectly erected façade. He can make himself into the perfect person for any situation, such is his understanding of the human mind. He is flawed, however, in his inability to account for the most unpredictable aspects of the human condition - such as when people do something for no reason, or against all reason and sensibility. While he is not an entirely logical person - he can use and understand emotions well - there are certain parts of the psyche that even he cannot account for. Appearance At six foot one, Jordan is quite tall. His black hair often falls around his face, making him appear paler than he is. His complexion varies given the light he is in, the season, and his choice of colors in his attire; but his natural skin tone is fairly average. His hands and fingers are long, and his body is subtly muscular. He is meticulous about keeping his body in shape, and has trained himself to be thin, average, and athletic by turns. His face is long, accentuated by an aquiline nose, thin lips, and large blue eyes. Usually, he keeps his facial hair at a minimum. When he wants his appearance to be different, he may grow out a mustache, beard, or goatee. Additionally, he may change the color of his hair and eyes, and the build of his body. In short, he possesses some of the seemingly common features of his ancestors, though the resemblance is hard to pin down as Khalidah Rahal's progeny are spread over a number of cultures. While he seems to dress plainly, Jordan actually has an impeccable sense of fashion and intentionally chooses clothes that are simple but perfectly fitting. His wardrobe consists largely of designer dress shirts, slacks, and suits, in a variety of colors tending toward the darker spectrum. If he is disguising himself, he will also change his dressing habits, and wear more casual attire. Abilities Mental Manipulation allows Jordan to access the minds of others. With this extremely potent ability, he can read a person's thoughts, project his own voice into a person's mind, alter a person's sensory interpretations, change a person's memories, and even temporarily negate a Special's powers. Reading and projecting thoughts are simple tasks, the very basic parts of this ability. He can also exercise full control over his own mind, allowing him to wear a "poker face" most of the time, or display false emotions at others. Only expert telepaths or those with abilities such as true sight can see through this; even a perfect knowledge of Jordan's behaviors would not be helpful here. Changing what a person senses is more difficult. That requires Jordan to slip into the correct parts of the subject's mind - which lobe, for example - and subtly change it. Negating powers would be done similarly, by locating the ability's source in the mind, if the ability is indeed based in the mind. The most difficult part of the ability is changing memories. This takes much of Jordan's energy, as he must focus well in order to not leave any gaping holes between the real and the fake memories. This could be noticed by some subjects, and in all subjects it would result in an unwanted feeling of confusion and emptiness. All of this happens in the conscious. Subconscious Manipulation is a specific ability that allows Jordan to manipulate a person's subconscious. He can "walk" a person's subconscious by entering a visual representation of it. For example, if one person subconsciously imagines their mind to be like a library, then Jordan can place himself inside that library, and read that person's innermost desires in the form of books. He could then change those desires by writing in the books or getting rid of them completely. A person's mind can be anything, however - a vast plain, a spaceship, anything related to the person's view of herself. Limits It is important to note that even with all the different facets of Mental Manipulation, Jordan cannot control a person's actions outright. He can implant memories and thoughts to make suggestions for actions, but he cannot force a person to take a step or fire a gun, for example. Jordan's primary ability has two different sets of physical limitations. If he is broadcasting the same thoughts and sensory changes to one group of people, then the ability will work on as many people are within range of him, that range being about one hundred yards, depending on his current mental state. If he is transmitting different messages to each person, then his range shortens, and he can only alter the minds of about fifty people at once. The secondary ability can only be used on one person at a time in any situation. When he uses the ability, he must be sitting or lying down, as he loses control of his body temporarily. Neither ability gives him any greater physical prowess, so, aside from his own training, he is left quite defenseless. Both abilities can be blocked by experienced telepaths, but only if they are aware of the intrusion, or if they already had psychic blocks on their minds. He cannot use either ability on anyone with a fully cybernetic mind. (If there is at least a semblance of human consciousness in the mind, Jordan can manipulate it.) As with anything else, being sleepy, medicated, or drunk impairs him, reducing his accuracy and the range at which he can cast thoughts. History Sometime in 1984, a young woman named Gemma entered into a casual relationship with one Jules Vasilyev, the only son in a small but prestigious Eastern European family of indeterminate origin. His family lived in the most impressively high-class areas of France, he claimed, having made their way slowly across the continent over the generations. They were bankers, and very wealthy. He had the money to prove it. Gemma was from a high-class family herself, an industrious sort who were purely English in origin. That family disapproved of her consorting with a fellow with such a muddy background, but he soon won them over by appealing to their sense of lavishness. It was not long before Gemma discovered she was pregnant with Jules' child. She insisted that they marry, and her family, upon hearing about it, insisted as well, in that special way that gives one the feeling that one will shortly be bleeding out from a neck wound. They married, and the young couple lived happily for quite a while in a house adjacent to her parents'. Soon, however, Gemma began to uncover irregularities in Jules' temperament. Sometimes it was the simple act of the baby, Jordan, crying too loudly or too often. Sometimes it was the pressures of his work as a stockbroker. Sometimes it was for no reason at all. Yet Jules would snap sometimes, yell at her or throw things only to sulk about later in self-imposed silence. Years passed. Jordan grew up to be a healthy boy, all laughter and adventure. He did well enough in school, and took up sports as well. But he was too curious for his own good, and he would often attempt to go off to work with one of his parents when school was out. His father forbade it, but Gemma did not mind him watching her write and do research. That got boring quickly, though. Jordan developed a habit of hiding in the back of his father's station wagon for a ride to his dad's workplace. Every day, he learned something new, especially when his dad met with clients in his car. Jordan learned about stocks and futures and commodities. He also learned that things like signatures and watermarks were very important. Soon he grew too big to hide in the backseat, though, and his father began to catch him at this game. So he gave it up. In high school, though, Jordan recalled those overheard conversations, and slowly began to realize that some of them had little to do with stocks. He had never loved or hated his father, just felt a lukewarm and dutiful attachment to him. Therefore, he did not really care what his father might be up to. He was just curious. Over the years, Jules had grown brash and defiant, and Gemma cold and detached. The more Jordan tried to talk to either of them, the more his efforts hit brick walls. He left home at eighteen, determined to make his own place in the world. No sooner had he arrived in New York than his abilities manifested, leaving him confused and feeling incredibly alone. In an effort to find out who - and what - he really was, he decided to trace his ancestry. That started with his mother and father. His mother's branch was easy enough, just a bunch of Englishmen quite far back. His father turned up nothing. It was then that he stumbled upon the truth, after looking into his father's immigration and work history. Soon he learned that Jules was not simply a stockbroker, but a criminal. A counterfeiter, of everything from currency to stamps to documents and more. He did not know whether his parents had any special powers as he seemed to have, but based on stories he learned of from his father's contacts, his father had a way of persuading people easily. His entire family seemed to have this power, going back as far as he could see. They were all criminals, his father's family members, including a few artists who made excellent forgeries of masterworks. For the past three generations, they had been forced out of Russia and farther west, as their crimes were foiled by governments and interested groups. Beyond that, he found rather innocuous ancestors in Russia, Poland, and all over Eastern Europe, down as far as Bulgaria and Turkey. As it turned out, he was a direct descendant of the powerful Dallassena family, tracing his lineage all the way back to the eleventh century and farther, for somehow this branch of his family had kept excellent records. After researching back as far as he could, and finding no hint of any superpowers, he went back to America, having reached the age of twenty after his two years of researching. He had nothing better to do, so he persuaded his mother to help him enroll at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and she agreed. Jordan then attempted his first-ever acts of forgery: the creation of a brand-new identity, in hopes of leaving his past behind. He located some contacts his father had in New York and, using his abilities, persuaded them that his father wanted them to help him accomplish this. By watching them and studying their work, he gained an understanding of how it was done. Life at MIT was very different from what he was used to. He actually had to put in effort to keep up with his peers. Yet he managed, with some help from his abilities, and graduated four years later with a degree in engineering. The years of study had distracted him well, and now that he was finished, he had no idea what to do. As April Fourth had taken place, he now knew he was not the only Special, but, having made very few acquaintances in college, this news meant little to him. He still felt isolated from the rest of society. He began to dabble in forgery again, using the same contacts of his father to teach himself. Something about the allure of the work called to him, even though he had a legitimate degree. A year later, he was one of the foremost forgers in the Northeast, though he used the name Sergei Konstantinovich Vasilyev for these less-than-legal activities. Unfortunately, not everyone was happy about this change in path. In the late summer of 2012, Jordan happened to be out late, and more than a little tipsy, one night and found himself surrounded by his associates, his father's forgers. They had spoken with his father and realized that Jordan had been misleading them all these years. In return, the father he had not seen or spoken to in years had instructed them to toss him around a little bit. Armed with various blunt instruments, they began to beat Jordan right there in the street, and succeeded in breaking his nose and right kneecap before someone finally stepped in. On the ground, Jordan barely understood what was happening, just that the four men who had confronted him had divided their attention. His savior had slipped in and started to disarm each man, and succeeded with little difficulty. Realizing that they were outmatched and now unarmed, the attackers ran off, leaving Jordan alone with his injuries. The man who had stepped in turned out to be named Gabriel, an appropriate name for a savior, as Jordan pointed out. Early on, Gabriel admitted that his arrival on the scene had been no accident. He had need of Jordan, for quite a few matters. Near the top of that list was placing him in the employ of Khalidah Rahal, the renowned founder of IntelliTouch Biometrics and, if Gabriel was to be believed, his ancestor. Additionally, he was instructed to start school again, and he returned to MIT for a graduate program in nuclear science and engineering. Currently he divides his time among his education, working for Khalidah, and pursuing his own interests. Recent activities As a test and showcase of his abilities, Jordan hosted a Hallowe'en party at the Couteau home in 2012. This eventually led to Felicia approaching him with a proposition regarding a position among Lux Aeterna. He would be in charge of managing the public's interpretation - whether accurate or not - of the activites of that group. At first he took this as a suggestion based on his abilities, but Felicia quickly made it clear that he was to develop meaningful relationships with others, in order to lead and mislead them. As this would push Jordan far outside of his usual range of experience, he initially resisted, but eventually agreed. Facts of interest Jordan is very good at archery. He can also sketch well. He is allergic to crustacea, and has a low tolerance for caffeine. He is a bit obsessed with cleanliness; for example, he does not like eating finger foods due to them leaving sauce or sandwich residue on his fingers. He uses napkins more often than most people. Category:Characters Category:Villain Category:Lux Aeterna